What would have been nasty crosswind flying conditions at Elkins Field, 10 mph winds straight out of the East, became a sailor’s dream at Lake Harold- fair winds and following seas. Harold Anderson had announced his new sailboat had arrived from Tower Hobbies and he was anxious to try it out. So, some of the LAFFS sailors showed up to join Harold including Don Haines, Mike Hervey, and Clem Wehner. For 2-1/2 hours we sailed, zipped around in 4-ship flotillas, crashed into each other, ran aground, went out of control and had great fun. With the levee around the pond, we were able to sit in our chairs high above the water with a great commanding view of all the action. Even Harold’s bride came out and sailed while he went to get a Kayak to retrieve Don’s boat which was hopelessly floundering far out at sea due to what Don claimed was “signal loss”. The wind was a perfect speed, blowing directly on shore making returning to the pier a breeze (no pun intended). The wind gradually slowed until at sunset it was near calm making for a beautiful scene of glassy water reflecting the rising full moon. It was a perfect evening of RC fun with good friends who had squeezed every ounce of fun out of the time we had. Thanks so much to Harold for his hospitality and invitation to do some sailing which we have not done for too long. We’ll do it again soon and hope others with sailboats will join us at the most perfect place there could possibly be for RC sailboating and float plane flying.... Read More

The forecasts of marginal wind conditions were correct—except instead of the 9-14 mph prognosticated by several weather centers, the wind speed at 9 a.m. was nada—zip—zero! About 10 o’clock or so breezes started to come and go and permitted some nice runs across the lake; however, the wind did not become steady until just before I left about 11:00. (more…)

Six intrepid sailors showed up at Liberty Lake this morning and had a fine session with all six boats in the water at one time. Everyone had a great time, even when figuring out how to get a snared boat off of the fountain buoy by bumping it with other boats. Don Haines’ custom 17 ft. pole with its “shepherd’s crook” proved very useful for putting boats in the water at an acceptable depth and retrieving them so they didn’t bang against the concrete footings of the little dock at the south end of the lake. It was also just the ticket for shoving boats back into deeper water when they ventured close enough to the shore to get their keels mired in the muck.... Read More